Two 40-foot containers with shoes worth 320,000 euros ($357,000) made customs declaration from Nansha Bonded Port Area and were then transported to Guangzhou Dalang Railway Station. Together with other goods, they were transferred to Russia through Manzhouli Port on May 24. This trip epitomizes the implementation of the multimodal freight transport system in Nansha district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

The multimodal freight transport system is a significant move that Nansha launched in July last year to speed up cross-border transportation. From August of 2016, when Guangzhou launched its first China-Europe freight train, to April of this year, Guangzhou customs has monitored 137 trains carrying 60,000 tons of goods worth more than $910 million.

A truck carrying a container drives into Nansha Bonded Port Area. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

Currently, the China-Europe freight train from Guangzhou has achieved a normalized operation with at least one train with a full load shuttling between Guangzhou and Europe, creating a new record for domestic China-Europe freight trains. It has also become a strong example of how Guangzhou is serving the Belt and Road Initiative.

Our goods are mainly high-end casual shoes, leather shoes, and daily-use electronic products. There are generally two ways to enter the bonded warehouse of the logistics zone of Nansha Bonded Port Area. After entering the warehouse, the goods are packed and then declared before being shipped to Guangzhou Dalang Railway Station and then through Manzhouli Port to Moscow, according to He Wang, general manager of a Guangzhou-based international logistics company.

Goods are unloaded to the warehouses in Nansha Bonded Port Area. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

"From July of last year to April 2019, a total of 82 containers were exported with a total value of about 18 million euros. According to the market demand in Moscow, we will ship an average of 20 containers monthly in May and June," he added.

Through sea, rail, and land multimodal transport, we will attract enterprises from Southeast Asian countries to use freight trains to ship goods to Europe through Nansha Bonded Port Area, creating a multimodal transport center in Nansha and opening up a new channel for "Belt and Road" logistics, said Li Juntao, deputy chief of Nansha Customs.

"Taking goods exported to Europe from Southeast Asia as an example, most of the goods in the past were shipped by sea, which usually takes a long time. Now it can be transported by road or sea to Guangzhou's Nansha district and then to Dalang Railway Station for rail transportation to Europe," Li added.

It takes about 45 days for goods to be exported from Guangzhou to Moscow by sea. Through the freight trains, the time can be cut to 15 days, a drop of 67 percent.

Staff members from Guangzhou customs inspect the goods. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]